I am thinking of buying a 74/75 Strat and came across this little baby...what do yo think of the sound and the guitar?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQGOgQZOs1g

Seems to have a pretty cool tone. What kind of music do you plan on using it for?

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-Kc
"Payin' dues."

I own a 73 Strat that i love the action on ...It has a tone all of its own..Not like the 60's Strats at all..It has a more overdriven tone to it rougher more broke up hotter than the 60's Strat...Some people talk down the early 70's Strat but i love mine..I will say that i don't think it has better tone then some of my newer strats ..But it sure has a lot of character..

Same here. I have a 72 that I won't part with.

I don't suppose you could try it before you buy it?

It turns out that I have a 1974 Strat in that color and with a similar non-original early-60s styled white pickguard! Mine is less beat up, judging by the wear along the edges of the body.

The official Fender name for that color was "walnut."

Those walnut colored Strats were the first to get the black plastic pickguards.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

that color looks amazing!

Here's a pic of mine ... rosewood fingerboard and less wear.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

she's a beauty.

I will meet the seller next week. Sure, I would never buy such an instrument without having the chance to test it. The pickguard is not original, but I can live with that. Regarding the colour I think this one is mocha brown, which slighlity differs from the walnut colour.

Thanks for your input here. My point is, I tried a CS 60s Teambuild Relic Strat. It sounded awesome, but I know that musicians as we all are, are a crazy crowd, we buy and sell, fall in love with an instrument but sell it again...This time though, I want to "invest" in something that doesn't lose value, has the "mojo", been around and sounds good. I am not expecting the guitar to sound like a newer custom shop Strat, but who knows...the guy in the video is a Les Paul player, so maybe he just eq-ed the amp a little darker. I am sure this Strat can ring better than shown in the video. Most of the 74 and earlier Strat videos on youtube sound awesome...and we are talking youtube video quality only here.

I totally dug it and it sounded fine to me. The color was not something you see everyday and you have the right idea that guitar will only go up in value.

I love the tone of the guitar. Sounds great!! One thing i gotta say though.. Even in this video I notice something that I notice with my 57 RI and that's a struggle to get sustain. I don't know if it's just that I mainly play humbucker equipped guitars or whatever the case may be, but that's the only drawback I see with it for my taste. Unbelievable incredible tone, but when I try to hold certain notes in the clean channel, it just fades out on me.

Initially, I thought maybe it's because of the fret gauge, but in looking at this video I'm seeing what look to be fatter frets and noticing the same thing. Probably just the nature of the pickups. I guess I'm just gonna have to re-train my style when playing this particular Strat. I'm going to try a sustain pedal and see what happens sometime next week.. But in the past I remember myself not being too fond of them.

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HaleAmano- House Of Sharks (Now On iTunes)
http://www.reverbnation.com/haleamano
http://www.haleamano.com

Another thing to note, off topic, what a great youtube channel the guy has. Now I know what I'll be listening to the next time I dig into the guts of my next guitar.

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HaleAmano- House Of Sharks (Now On iTunes)
http://www.reverbnation.com/haleamano
http://www.haleamano.com

Even though a lot of people use that name, here never was a "mocha brown" color in those days. The catalogs listed that color as "walnut." The color did vary quite a bit from year to year, sometimes it seemed lighter and later it got redder. So it can be hard to believe it was called the same thing.

link to a 1976 color chart

The color was first used on early '70s Telecaster Customs.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I'm always checking Greg's guitars out on youtube, the guy can flat out play and has a great sound. Plus getting to play all those guitars can't be too bad! Good luck, Greg always seems to have high quality and beautiful guitars so you should be all set!

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I got a black cat bone, I got a mojo too.